Picture of Dorian Gray, The

Picture of Dorian Gray, The

(1891) a novel by Oscar Wilde about a beautiful young man, Dorian Gray, who has a painting of himself that he keeps in the attic (=a room under the roof) of his house. Dorian Gray's own face remains young and beautiful, but the face in the painting looks older and more ugly as Gray becomes more and more evil and immoral.

Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Advanced Learner's Dictionary.